On tap at Liberty Craft House, suspect doppel-hefe combo never truly connects both German styles. But its hefe-like banana breading and clove-cinnamon-nutmeg spicing and bock-like toffee-cocoa-pecan conflux offer pleasantries for sweet-toothed brewhounds.
On tap at Bronx Alehouse, stylishly complex off-dry amber-browned dunkel bock retains brown-sugared molasses breading and nutty cocoa malting. Latent citrus souring lags, but sharp hop bite lingers.
Nebulous schwarzbier never catches fire. Indecisive dark-roast mocha malting wavers above chalky cocoa, soy, cola, walnut and port irrelevance. Milk-sugared brown chocolate center needs more prominence. A true goat!
Delightful doppelbock drapes creamy chocolate malting above moderated orange blossom honey adjunct and bittersweet dried fruiting. Chewy brown-sugared prune, raisin and fig illusions pick up mild banana breading as well as tertiary rum-spiced sherry, burgundy and almond wining by the delicate chocolate fruitcake finish.
On tap at West O, winning dry-hopped doppelbock lager collaboration between Maryland’s Heavy Seas and Pennsylvania’s Troegs brings floral-spiced mango, cherry and red grape tang to bittersweet grapefruit-pineapple-orange serenade. Moderate resinous hop bittering contrasts caramelized Vienna malting.
On tap at Ambulance, heady amber-hazed springtime medium body (with well hidden 8% ABV) brings lemony orange peel briskness to floral dry-hopped spicing, honeyed caramel sweetness and cracker-like pilsner malting. Subtle Chardonnay, lemon meringue, banana and apple undertones endear zesty citrus frontage.
On tap at Doherty’s, delicately easygoing bock brings dried fig tartness, light molasses sinew, subtle raisin notions and nutty toffee tinge to clean-watered crisping. Subtle leafy hop astringency affects dried-fruited nature.
Highly recommended limited bottle edition (2015) deserves year-round status. Chewy dark-fruited mocha creaminess intensifies above toasted caramel malting and brown-sugared pecan nuttiness. Gleaming butterscotch-spiced sweetness and cherry brandy wining further bolster candied German-style full body.
Despite destruction-bound Devastator tag, soft clean-watered crisping provides calm base for sweet malt-forward doppelbock. Brown-sugared maple molasses syruping spreads atop dried fig, sweet raisin, sugared vanilla and toffee fudging. Casual butternut, pecan, hazelnut and cola nut illusions dried out by earthen musk. Tertiary chocolate truffle, cream liqueur and pureed cherry notions need deeper resonance.
Venerable Cincy dopplebock shows off Queen City’s affluent German heritage. Expressive Munich-crystal malting allows banana-chipped toffee, molasses and vanilla creaming to prosper just as emphatically as its cinnamon-spiced raisin, prune, plum and dark cherry insistence. Rum-sugared burgundy sweetness and subsidiary nut-roasted coffee bittering fill out the mocha-spiced finish of enthralling medium-full body.
Tidily traditional doppelbock brings expectant dark-fruited sweetness to chocolate-roasted caramel malting. Pureed raisin, stewed prune, black cherry, sugar plum and apricot illusions pickup sappy molasses sinew as well as light vanilla-toffee undertones. At mocha-fruited finish, mild port-burgundy wining and subtle pecan-almond nuttiness deepen busy flavor profile.
Gruff for its style (and circulated as part of 2014 ‘rarities’ series), medium-full-bodied doppelbock blends dewy earthen musk and sharp hop char into expectant Vienna-malted dried fruiting. Burgundy-wined raisin, plum and prune illusions pick up likable black cherry puree snip at black chocolate-spiced midst. Gunky fruitcake finish holds steady.